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Mallie Jane Kim

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A sign on the TVHS property shows a rendering of the exhibit and education center. Photo by Raymond Janis

By Mallie Jane Kim

Setauket’s historic district shouldn’t be marked by a bright-blue-wrapped, half-finished barn for much longer, as the Three Village Historical Society plans to start working in earnest on the Dominick-Crawford Barn Education and History Center just as soon as the weather thaws and their supply orders come in. 

“You’re going to see a lot going on in the spring,” said Steve Hintze, who has been on the TVHS barn committee since its inception. “We ran into roadblocks, which seems to be par for the course, but now we’re ready and have everything set to really start moving.”

The society raised the barn exterior quickly last year, only to stall in the fall due to design changes that needed assessment by the Historic District Advisory Committee, a citizen group appointed by Brookhaven Town Board to advise the planning commissioner on changes in historical districts. 

The committee recommended adjustments to the society’s altered plans, including to the spacing of seams on the metal roof as well as to the color of the exterior, according to Hintze, who was TVHS president when the society began the barn process in 2014. Hintze added that some of the proposed changes were due to cost increases after the COVID-19 pandemic. The society moved toward less expensive but still historically-accurate materials, and away from a pricey cedar roof and particular windows that had shot up in cost. 

“We had enough money to get everything done before the pandemic,” he said. “Due to the pandemic, the cost doubled — flat out doubled.”

This start-and-stop rhythm has been nothing new to the TVHS barn project, which ran into roadblocks from the beginning. The society took down the original 1840s barn from its location in Old Field in 2014, with plans to use the wood to reconstruct a historic barn structure within a commercial shell that could host exhibits and events. According to Hintze, in the process of seeking permits with the Town of Brookhaven, the society learned their building lacked an appropriate Certificate of Occupancy, an issue he said was left over from the previous owner, and there were several past clerical errors that needed ironing out. 

“So once we started the project, we immediately started moving forward and then had to slow down,” Hintze said. “Then we move forward and then slow down. So that was the beginning of the barn taking a while to get accomplished.”

Then in 2022, someone cut and stole some key pieces of the original barn wood — including the longest piece. To solve that, the society has additional same-period wood coming from other places locally and from around New York state. 

One design sticking point is whether the society can use the high-density engineered wood LP SmartSide siding on the outside structure, which requires less labor and comes with a 50-year guarantee, or whether they need to use historically-accurate siding material like cedar or pine. Hintze said the society would like to consider long-term costs in maintaining the barn, with a material he said is indistinguishable in appearance from classic wood and far more resistant to bad weather, woodpeckers and other wood-destroying creatures. 

But some TVHS board members and members of the HDAC have been hesitant, if not against using the material. Town councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook), who is familiar with the arguments for and against LP siding on the barn, explained the hesitancy comes from those concerned about historical accuracy — much like a Model T car club using modern materials to restore historic vehicles. 

“If you get leaders in who say, ‘Hey, what if we put a Honda engine in the Model T, or fiberglass siding, or maybe air conditioning to be more comfortable,’ at some point, you’re not the Model T car club anymore,” the councilmember said.

Kornreich added that a decision about siding material is a big deal because Setauket’s historic district is one of the strictest in Suffolk County. If LP is allowed there, the door opens for it to be used in other historical applications.

But that reason is one TVHS leaders see as a possible plus, opening the door for forward-looking materials in historical contexts. “There’s something to be said about the historical society being able to set a standard, if we’re using these other materials, let’s use the very best of it,” explained society director Mari Irizarry. “Solar panels weren’t approved in the historic district for years, and now they are.”

Hintze said any debate surrounding LP siding shouldn’t slow down the barn building, and added that they are open to cedar if that will get the barn project finished. “It’s not structural — it’s the last thing that goes up,” Hintze said. “It really is something that can come down to the wire.”

In the meantime, the $300,000 JumpSMART grant the society recently received from Suffolk County will help move construction forward, and TVHS community engagement manager Kimberly Phyfe is planning to ramp up fundraising efforts in coming months. “We still have a little ways to go in terms of fundraising and grant writing,” she said, adding that she is hoping the barn will be ready to host visitors by the society’s annual Candlelight House Tour this December.

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Setauket Elementary School. Photo by Mallie Jane Kim

By Mallie Jane Kim

Some area seniors and persons with disabilities will qualify for a 50% cut to the school portion of their property taxes next year, after the Three Village Board of Education voted during their Feb. 7 meeting to raise the maximum income levels on a tax exemption aimed at easing the financial burden on vulnerable groups.

The move comes after nearly a year of advocacy by area senior Rochelle Pollack, who approached the podium with her walker at several board meetings since March 2023 in order to ask the board to make the change. She said seniors have elevated medical and prescription costs — alongside the high inflation rates impacting everyone. “House prices have skyrocketed,” she said at an April 2023 meeting. “It’s great if you’re selling, but it’s not if you’re staying, as school taxes have also skyrocketed.”

Pollack pointed out that someone making $40,000 but paying $14,000 in property taxes is left with $26,000 to live on. “In this day of high inflation, gas, food, heat, medical procedures and prescriptions, I dare any of you to live on $26,000,” she told the board. “How can seniors?”

According to Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Carlson, it’s unclear how much the savings for these groups will impact all the other homeowners in the area.

“What makes it tricky for the board is there’s no way to know how many people will now get this exemption,” Carlson explained, adding that changing the income levels opens up the exemption to a whole new group of people. “How many? No idea. We have no idea what income levels are, so it’s hard to say how much it will cost everyone else.”

During previous board meeting discussions of the exemption, Carlson compared it to splitting a restaurant bill. If two people in a group of 10 want to pay less because they only had water and salad, the other eight diners must pay more — the cost of the bill doesn’t change. “For one person to pay a little less, it means everyone else pays a little more.”

New York State raised the maximum allowable income levels in 2022 to $50,000 for those aged 65 and over, but the board opted to meet that increase halfway in light of uncertainty over how many seniors will take advantage of the tax credit, and what the real impact will be on all other homeowners. 

The sliding scale approved by the board will mean people over 65, or those with disabilities, who make up to $39,500 can qualify for the maximum 50% benefit. At the lowest end of the exemption, those making $47,000 to $47,900 can get a 5% tax break. Residents would need to apply for the exemption to the town assessor by March 1. 

Carlson explained that the state used to raise maximums for this income-based exemption incrementally each year, but until last year hadn’t made an increase since 2009, hence the substantial jump. Previously, residents needed to make $29,000 or less to qualify for the 50% discount. 

Trustee David McKinnon vocally supported increasing the income levels for the exemption, as he had during previous board discussions, as a moral issue of fairness. He called property taxes regressive by nature since they tend to disproportionately burden people with lower incomes — the less a person earns, the higher percentage of their income they end up paying, on average. McKinnon also praised Pollack for her advocacy in raising the issue to the board.

“She’s been an incredibly effective advocate for seniors here,” he said. “I knew nothing about this particular issue, and she came in at considerable cost to herself.”

The board was unanimous in approving the increase, and left open the possibility of bringing the district in line with state maximums next year, depending on the impact this change has on the rest of the community.

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Ward Melville High School. File photo by Greg Catalano

By Mallie Jane Kim

A proposal to make secondary school start times later in Three Village Central School District failed in a deadlock 3-3 vote Jan. 24, due to concerns over newfound uncertainty sparked by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) proposed state budget plan, which could see the district lose $9 million in funds. 

“If only this had all happened before we got this lovely little bomb dropped from Albany,” said board president Susan Rosenzweig at the Jan. 24 meeting.

Later start times were originally going to be part of the Jan. 10 district restructuring vote, which solidified a plan to move the sixth and ninth grades up to make 6-8 grade middle school and a four-year high school in the fall of 2025. But advocates for later start times asked the board to consider making a change for the 2024-25 school year, before the restructuring. That start-time vote failed because of increased cost and dissatisfaction that the proposed 35-minute change did not push start times late enough. 

The district’s Ward Melville High School currently begins at 7:05, and during a public meeting on start times in 2023, one parent shared video of a student getting picked up by a school bus in the pitch darkness of the early morning.

According to Rosenzweig, board procedure dictated they couldn’t vote on start time changes both for 2024-25 and 2025-26 in the same meeting, and the board was expected to approve the start time change for fall 2025 on Jan. 24. 

Until that “bomb from Albany.” 

“While the will is strong to make this happen, while we care more than anything about the children and their well-being and their welfare and want to do the right thing — we agree it’s a health issue — that burden of financial responsibility to me is too heavy right now,” Rosenzweig explained.

According to the district’s budget expert, Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Carlson, the “real number” loss in funding under the governor’s budget would be about $8 million, after accounting for expected changes in building aid and taking out the “hypothetical” funding available for Universal Pre-K, which the district does not receive because implementing UPK would be more expensive than the current Three Village pre-K program, even with the additional aid money.

This vote marks the first time the six-member board ran into an even split. They opted last fall to rely on their “collegial” relationship rather than spend district money on a special election to replace the seventh board member, who had to vacate her position for personal reasons.

In the event of a tie, a motion does not pass.

The proposal’s failure comes despite years of advocacy by parents and, according to Rosenzweig, 22 letters written in support of later start times to the board in the week before the meeting.

Trustees Karen Roughley and David McKinnon argued that the board has been coupling restructuring with later start times through the decision process, and acting in good faith would mean keeping that pairing in place. “We need to distinguish a hypothetical, which is the governor’s budget, from a principle which is that we have to protect students’ health. They’re two separate things. We should be voting on principle, not some hypothetical which virtually everyone believes is going to change,” McKinnon said.

He added that restructuring the district without changing start times would create an “inferior product” since ninth graders would have to wake up even earlier than they do while housed in the junior high schools. “We would be agreeing that the ninth-grade students would now also have to get up as early as 5:30 in the morning in order to study physics and calculus while they’re half asleep.”

Board member Shaorui Li, the third “yes” voter, questioned the need to put off the decision over the potential cuts to a budget that for 2023-24 is $230.9 million. “We said many times this is a health issue — $8 million is about 4% of our total budget. For this 4%, are we willing to sacrifice our students’ health again?” she asked.

In voting “no,” Rosenzweig also pointed out the upcoming engagement of a transportation consultant, who the board hopes will figure out a way to push secondary school start times closer to 8 a.m. while spending less than the nearly $1 million increase predicted to accommodate additional buses.

Rosenzweig urged district families not to see the lack of decision as final. “This is not the end of the conversation,” she said. “This is just a moment where we have to be responsible with the information we have, and the information we don’t have yet. We don’t have the transportation consultant’s report yet, and we don’t have verified information from Albany. We don’t know what’s real and what’s a stunt.”

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Assemblyman Ed Flood speaks in front of local politicians, educators and community members at a press conference against Gov. Hochul’s proposed school funding cuts. Photo by Mallie Jane Kim

By Mallie Jane Kim

Local political representatives and school superintendents rallied to Three Village Central School District Jan. 25 for a passionate press conference decrying proposed cuts to state school funding in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) proposed budget. 

Hochul touted an $825 million increase in state funding for schools overall, but some districts — including 34 in Suffolk County and 10 in Nassau — would face decreases. Of these, Three Village would lose the highest dollar amount at nearly $9 million if the governor’s plan stands, and the smaller Port Jefferson School District would be hit by the largest percentage of funding loss on Long Island — over 28%. Mount Sinai, Cold Spring Harbor, Smithtown and Kings Park school districts would also see modest cuts. This marks a break from the “hold harmless” provision in New York, which in the past has guaranteed school districts didn’t receive less state funding than the previous year, a practice that takes some guesswork out of budget planning.

Political opposition

“Governor, stop playing politics with our children — because we will fight you tooth and nail,” New York State Assemblyman Ed Flood (R-Port Jefferson) said at the event. “We need to restore some common sense and do what’s right for the children of our community. Where are our priorities? Let’s put our children first.”

The politicians who spoke — including U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY-1), state Assemblymembers Jodi Giglio (R-Riverhead), Jarett Gandolfo (R-Sayville), Doug Smith (R-Holbrook) and state Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James) — were united in considering the cuts as a targeted political attack and a conscious choice by the governor.

LaLota referred to the Jan. 5 Long Island Association’s annual State of the Region breakfast during which, as reported by Newsday, Hochul traded barbs with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R), including her quip, “I walked in, I hear somebody doesn’t want New York on Long Island, I was ready to walk off the stage right then. You don’t want me to take all the money with me, though, right?”

LaLota called Hochul a “schoolyard bully” and suggested she is using children as a political pawn against Long Island.

“It is wholly unfair and unjust to take money from our kids because she’s got a political squabble with us,” he said. “Don’t come after our kids because you have a political problem with Long Island. The right thing to do is to fully fund our kids’ education — that’s something we rely upon.”

The governor’s state budget proposal represents a first draft. The state Assembly and Senate will be instrumental in crafting the finalized version, which is due April 1 — but does not often come in on time. If the budget takes until early May to pass, as it did in 2023, school districts will be in a tricky situation since their budgets must be ready and made available for public review between April 30 and May 7.

Superintendents and other groups oppose cuts

“It is important to recognize that these proposed changes will create uncertainty and hardship for our districts,” said Bayport-Blue Point Superintendent Timothy Hearney, who also serves as president of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association. His district stands to lose 3.34% of its state funding under the plan.

Even though the budget is a first draft and subject to political bargaining in Albany, any final answer may come too late. School districts spend the early spring ironing out budget plans, so unless there is a change soon, districts will be faced with the option of incorporating the funding loss into the 2024-25 school year budget or risk putting up a budget that could surpass the state’s mandated cap on increases to the tax levy, an unpopular option for Long Island taxpayers, who already face high property taxes. In this instance, budget passage would require approval by a supermajority of voters (60 percent or more).

Hearney pointed out that education costs have increased even as enrollments have decreased over the past decade or so, in a nod toward one of Hochul’s stated reasons why some districts should receive less funding. “It’s crucial to underscore that condensing a decade’s worth of lost enrollment in a single year places an overwhelming burden on all of our districts,” he said.

Other concerned superintendents standing in support were Christine Criscione from Mount Sinai, Jessica Schmettan from Port Jefferson and Kevin Scanlon from Three Village. 

Scanlon spelled out what he thought the “significant challenges” losing $9 million in funds for his district would pose at a Jan. 24 school board meeting, the night before the press conference. He said he hoped for compromise in Albany, but that such sudden cuts would require drastic measures to accommodate. He said the district may have to close a school or discontinue the Three Village Academy high school program, and they may have to make cuts to the pre-K and pre-K enrichment programs, the Intellectually Gifted Program, special education aides, teaching positions, administrative positions, educational and extracurricular programs and even security. 

“Every area of this community will be impacted, so Three Village needs to come together as it has never done before,” he urged at the board meeting. “Parents, students, teachers, administrators, anyone out there — anyone on the street we can get in this community to be part of this conversation — we need for advocacy.”

Those who showed up to advocate at Thursday’s press conference included school board members, staff and teachers union members from Three Village and Mount Sinai, as well as members of parent teacher associations, also civic and community groups, including the local parent group Three Village Dads. 

David Tracy, leader of Three Village Dads, said he isn’t interested in being divisive politically, but couldn’t ignore the air of apparent retribution in the governor’s move. “Long Island was not a huge voting fan of the governor. I hate to believe this cut in the budget is somewhat of a backlash for that,” he said, adding that the disparity in funding changes from district to district is baffling to him. “It’s just tragic that it comes from our kids.”

Three Village Civic Association president Charles Tramontana agrees the issue is bipartisan. “Nobody wants to see that amount of funding cut without some sort of warning. I don’t think it’s controversial,” said Tramontana, who was scheduled to attend the press conference but was stuck home sick. 

“I don’t understand the way the state operates sometimes,” Tramontana said. “They didn’t give any notice that they were dropping that ‘hold harmless’ provision. Basic fairness would dictate that you would give some warning.” He added, “We took some hit— $9 million in one year is definitely going to cause some chaos in our budget.”

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Three Village Central School District Superintendent Kevin Scanlon. File photo

Superintendent warns cuts would impact programs, class sizes and staffing

By Mallie Jane Kim

Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon sent a dire warning last week to Three Village Central School District families over proposed state funding cuts, calling for Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to reconsider her calculations for state education aid — which would decrease funding for the district by $8.9 million — and requesting advocacy from district residents.

“At a time when expenditures continue to rise beyond the district’s control and federal COVID funds are set to expire, any loss of school funding poses significant challenges for our district and will have far-reaching implications for students, staff and our entire education system,” Scanlon wrote. 

Hochul’s budget proposal for the 2024-25 school year includes an increase of $825 million in state aid to schools overall – but cuts for some districts, including Three Village, which would lose 17.86% of its aid if the budget passes as is. This pullback in aid would mark an end to the “hold harmless” provision, which had assured districts they would not receive less aid than the previous year, a policy that helps long-term budget planning because districts aren’t left guessing as to how much the state will provide in coming years.

The governor touted her budget proposal during her Jan. 16 presentation as marking “the highest level of education funding in state history,” but acknowledged the jump is far more modest that the past two years, which combined saw a $5 billion increase, according to state data. 

“As much as we may want to, we are not going to be able to replicate the massive increases of the last two years. No one could have expected the extraordinary jumps in aid to occur annually,” she said, adding that it is “common sense” to allot money based on current school enrollment rather than that of past decades.

The cuts for Three Village come despite the state Comptroller’s Office in January 2023 designating the district as “susceptible to fiscal stress,” which district officials have previously said is due to money from district reserves spent to keep schools open during the pandemic.

Scanlon’s email painted a bleak picture of the district’s future under the proposed decrease in funds, suggesting it “could mean catastrophic, long-lasting results for our school system. When schools face funding cuts, it often leads to a reduction in resources, extracurricular programs and support services, as well as the potential for building closures. … Steep reductions such as the one proposed will not only require reductions to staffing, but also increased workloads, larger class sizes and the elimination of essential educational opportunities — all pillars of strength that our district has prided itself on providing.”

The superintendent also urged district residents to use contact details provided at contact.3villagecsd.org to write to the governor and local representatives, though some of those representatives have already taken notice.

Both state Assemblyman Ed Flood (R-Port Jefferson) and state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) made statements against the funding cuts for some districts. 

Flood suggested the governor was prioritizing the migrant crisis instead of helping schools overcome learning loss from the COVID-19 pandemic. “Gov. Hochul claims education for our younger generations is her top priority yet at the same time schools are lowering their testing standards,” he wrote.

For his part, Palumbo indicated that during upcoming budget talks, he plans to “ensure that Long Island receives its fair share of state funding for education, transportation, housing and workforce development.”

A Change.org petition started by the Three Village Parents Alliance, an advocacy group that includes several school board members, calls on Hochul to reconsider. “We cannot overemphasize how disruptive the proposed 18% reduction in state aid to the Three Village school district will be for the education, health and safety of our students. There is no mechanism to manage a cut of this magnitude in a single year that will not be damaging to our students,” the petition states. More than 200 district parents signed on within the first day, Jan. 20, and by Wednesday morning, Jan. 24, the petition had garnered nearly 500 signatures. 

According to Scanlon, administration officials plan to expand on the potential impact of the change in funding at a Jan. 24 school board meeting. He invited parents to attend or watch the livestream on the district’s YouTube channel.

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Ward Melville High School. File photo by Greg Catalano

By Mallie Jane Kim

Three Village Central School District is set to restructure its schools starting fall 2025, after the Board of Education voted to officially adopt a plan to bring the district in line with New York State standards, moving sixth grade up to form middle schools and placing ninth grade in the high school.

The proposal was the most popular among all stakeholders in a survey last year of students, staff, parents and community members, but several public comments at the Jan. 10 school board meeting called for holding off on the decision.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and if you have something that’s boutique, that’s a good thing,” said district parent Kevin DeBlasi, who was one of the commenters to support keeping the district in its current configuration, in part to give students the extra time to mature. “Let them be kids as long as possible,” he said.

Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon pushed back against the idea that change in school structure will damage the education children receive in the district. “Our uniqueness is not in our configuration. Our uniqueness is in the amount of care and concern that the people in this district show for the children that go here,” he said.

Trustee David McKinnon, who indicated he’s usually in favor of not changing things — just look at his house, he joked — agreed. “The problem is that reality is changing, much like my house is deteriorating,” he said. “Enrollment is declining a lot. Change is inevitable here at some point. We’ve reached the point where we have to do something.”

In an email read aloud during the public comments, district parent Michelle Schultz urged the board to wait on reconfiguring schools in order to consider the class of so-called “COVID kindergarteners.” Schultz pointed out that the students who will be sixth graders in 2025 are part of the same class that was sent home from kindergarten in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“They were prohibited from being within 6 feet of each other and did not have the opportunities to work in collaborative groups or build their social skills,” Schultz wrote, reminding the board that this group missed foundational elementary experiences like field trips, classroom celebrations and interacting normally — at a significant developmental age. “Making the change at this point will impact a group of children who’ve already lost out on a typical elementary school experience,” she added.

Scanlon, who has previously indicated the district has an unprecedented number of students in need of counseling services, validated her concern and said he is committed to addressing increased postpandemic mental health challenges. “We need to keep investing and investing in those things to make sure we have trusted adults at earlier and earlier ages to be able to address the needs of our students as they come through the system,” he said, but added that school configuration won’t change that need. “Regardless of the outcome of the vote tonight by the Board of Education — if we still stay in our current configuration, we are going to have to spend a lot of money to help support the children that are in our system. We have a lot of issues that still need to be addressed.”

Board member Jeffrey Kerman was swayed by the comments and twice made a motion to table the decision to move grades, but no one seconded the motion, so the vote went on. “This is a very large change for a district that is very, very successful, so if we’re going to change it, I want to know why, how, how much it’s going to cost, et cetera,” he said before voting “no.” “I’m not totally against changing it, but I want to know all the information before I vote on something like this.”

For his part, board vice president Vincent Vizzo, a former district teacher and principal, expressed mixed feelings, but said he spent time reviewing the research and survey results before deciding to vote “yes.” “It’s a hard decision for me to make, but at the same time, when I see what the community, what the teachers and what the students looked at and voted for, it makes it a little more simple for me,” he said.

In the administration’s recommendation to the board, Scanlon said closing or repurposing an elementary school should wait in consideration of potential upcoming New York State pre-K requirements, but that district budget considerations could include discussion of renting out a wing of an elementary school and/or part of the North Country administration building. 

“Given the current climate of the times, we need to just be careful with all of this occurring all at the same time. And if this is one factor that will alleviate the fear of some of our elementary parents, it’s worth considering,” Scanlon said.

School start times still in limbo

The board voted down a proposal to make secondary school start times later for the next school year but is expected to approve changing times to coincide with district restructuring in 2025-26, as originally proposed.

Start time change advocates had pushed the board to make time adjustments sooner despite an expected higher price tag associated with doing so while the district is still in its current configuration. At the same time, the current proposal only moves Ward Melville High School’s start time by 35 minutes to 7:40 a.m., which some advocates say is simply not enough. 

In the 2-4 vote, McKinnon and trustee Shaorui Li voted in favor of a time change for next fall, while long-standing later start time advocate Karen Roughley voted “no,” preferring to wait for an outside consultant to try to figure out more favorable start times without increasing transportation costs as much as the current estimate does. She expressed disappointment that any work by a consultant would come too late to make a time change decision for next fall.

Board president Susan Rosenzweig indicated the board would vote on later start times for 2025-26 at the Jan. 24 meeting.

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Ward Melville’s varsity football team, along with coaches Chris Boltreck and John Sorbera, deliver coloring books and crayons to Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. Photo courtesy Sharon Philbrick

By Mallie Jane Kim

Patients at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital this holiday season can enjoy a football-themed activity book, thanks to Ward Melville High School’s rising varsity football team, which is training in the offseason for 2024.

The team worked together to wrap crayon sets to go along with the activity books, entitled “Ward Melville Football Coloring Book,” before delivering them to the hospital together on Sunday, Dec. 10.

“It’s always nice to see our players give back to their community, but it’s especially great to see them work together for a cause,” said head coach Chris Boltrek.

Ward Melville’s varsity football team, along with coaches Chris Boltreck and John Sorbera, deliver coloring books and crayons to Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. Photo courtesy Sharon Philbrick

He noted that most team members participate in community service through various clubs, but quarterback Hudson Philbrick, currently a ninth grader at Gelinas Junior High School, had the idea to serve together as a varsity team. The head coach said he and assistant coach John Sorbera were happy to help facilitate after Philbrick approached them.

Philbrick said he wanted to help hospitalized children because he knows firsthand how hard it can be to stay in a hospital — he had to spend part of summer vacation that way when he was 6, due to an allergic reaction.

“It was horrible,” he said, adding, “It is not very fun to be in the hospital for the holidays.”

Philbrick said he initially wanted to arrange a visit to hospitalized children, but when that wasn’t possible, he said, he thought of the activity book and called Stony Brook to see if the hospital would accept the donation. He said he used design software Canva to create the book, which includes coloring pages, as well as activities like a football-themed word search, a design-a-helmet activity and a maze guiding a player to score a touchdown. He then had 100 copies printed through a self-publishing website.

Joan Alpers, director of child life services at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, said in an email that the coloring books will “help hospitalized kids remain calm and relaxed during their hospitalization. Having quiet activities to do fills wait times and provides enjoyment to kids of all ages.”

She added that hospital staff is especially grateful to see young people help other young people through hard times.

For his part, Philbrick initially wasn’t sure if his teammates would buy in. “When they all showed up, it was amazing,” he said. “It was a lot of fun, and I’m pretty sure it makes everybody feel good about themselves knowing they get to help out some kids during the holidays.”

Philbrick said he added a section for children to write their goals at the back of the activity books. “Goals give you something to look forward to and work toward like, ‘Hey I’m going to do this someday.’ So it gives them hope.”

As for Philbrick, he said his personal goal is to grow his efforts to help children by making a bigger contribution to the community each year during the holiday season.

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Stony Brook University: Entrance sign

By Mallie Jane Kim 

Stony Brook University is studying traffic and pedestrian safety, thanks to a $1 million grant from the New York State Department of Transportation. The study will assess road safety on and around university properties to prevent pedestrian and cyclist traffic deaths, according to Heather Banoub, SBU’s new assistant vice president of community relations, and may include a pedestrian overpass at the intersection of Nicolls Road and state Route 347 with more sidewalks.

Banoub, who shared a range of university updates at the Three Village Civic Association’s Nov. 6 meeting, said she anticipates results from the study around 2025.

“It will determine what would be the best way to help our campus be safer — as well as our larger community — as people come into and out of campus,” she said.

In serving to introduce herself to the community, Banoub said she was previously at New York University, where she served as assistant director of communications since 2014.

Carl Mills, SBU’s assistant vice president for government relations, added that area traffic flow will also be part of the study but that efforts at improving traffic need to be a cooperative effort between the university, state, county and town.

He emphasized that the funding is for information collection, and no actual structural changes are in the works yet. “If we were even to go forward with the overpass, we would still have to apply for additional funding to get it,” Mills noted.

He added that since SBU was earmarked by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) as a flagship university of the state university system, there are efforts to increase capacity for “cutting edge” research, and he expects the student body and faculty to grow. The university is currently assessing needs for additional housing and buildings, but any development will involve increasing sewage capacity.

Banoub also told attendees that a new radar survey of the area around a gravesite on campus near Dogwood Drive found four additional gravesites, in addition to the four sets of remains previously discovered. Banoub said the university is hoping to engage a genealogist to attempt to discover who was buried there and whether they have any living relatives.

Banoub said the site will be part of a beautification plan “that will include appropriate markers designating the historic importance of this site and turning it into a place where people go and pay their respects.”

Civic association leaders expressed gratitude that three representatives from SBU joined the meeting — Erika Karp, community relations representative for Stony Brook Medicine/SBU, was also in attendance. Civic member George Hoffman welcomed this closer connection between university officials and the community. “I get a real sense we’ve turned a corner in our relationship,” he said. “It would be so incredible for the community to be working in partnership with this great institution, and I think you’ve got the right team in place to make that happen.”

New police advisory board

Also at the civic meeting, Felix Adeyeye, Suffolk County Police Department’s director of community engagement, encouraged residents to apply for the new Precinct Level Advisory Board, a group of eight to 12 people in each precinct who will have direct access to their precinct inspector to inform SCPD about areas of community concern as well as to learn about safety issues facing the county.”

Adeyeye said this initiative stemmed from a summer ruling against the department in a lawsuit over racial discrimination in traffic stops, brought by civil rights group LatinoJustice.

“There’s a mandate under the police reform that stipulates that the department must engage in an overabundance of community engagement effort,” he said, adding that this engagement must be at the administrative level and not just on the streets. ”I want to implore you to get very active in not only this civic association but also in your police department.”

The department’s website about the boards indicated the application deadline was Oct. 15, but at the meeting Adeyeye said the police department is still accepting applications and will begin the review process in December. 

Adeyeye said the community is fortunate to have these advisory boards, particularly since a community ambassadors program instituted by outgoing Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison is currently in limbo after the commissioner resigned last week, just months after his department’s widely celebrated accomplishment of making an arrest in connection with the Gilgo Beach serial killings, though an alleged party is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

The community ambassadors program is the prerogative of the sitting commissioner, and under Harrison allowed a handful of residents from each community access to the county’s top cop. Adeyeye said the newly-elected county executive when in office will appoint a replacement police commissioner, and there should not be a delay in the county Legislature approval process.

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Ward Melville High School. File photo
School board hears statistics of drug and alcohol use — and perceptions

By Mallie Jane Kim

Three Village students generally report drug use at or below state norms, except for alcohol, according to results of a 2022 student survey by New York State’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports.

“Alcohol is the primary drug of choice above any other substance for adolescents in our district,” explained Alison Herrschaft, the district’s lead social worker and drug and alcohol counselor, as she presented the data at an Oct. 25 school board meeting. “It’s also the only category in our district where we exceeded the state level.”

Among the Class of 2022 seniors, 20% reported having at least one drink within the past 30 days, and about 18% reported binge drinking, or having five or more drinks at a time. That’s compared to 19% and 11% respectively, statewide.

Vaping was another area of concern, with 10% of seniors reporting having vaped within the past 30 days, compared to 13% across New York, and 12% reported using marijuana in any form, compared to 15% statewide.

Herrschaft also shared data related to student attitudes toward drug and alcohol use from the survey, which 1,750 seventh-through-12th-grade students completed 18 months ago, during physical education class. She warned that legalization and broader cultural acceptance of marijuana could lead to increased use among students.

“We’re always stressing to students that just because a substance is legal does not mean that it’s healthy for a developing brain,” she said.

There was no reported use of methamphetamines, heroin or cocaine within the district or statewide. But Herrschaft said that since the opioid epidemic is still affecting the 18-25 age group in New York state, “it’s critical that we ask these questions anyway, and continue to educate students on the risk of use.”

She added that this education includes making students aware that deadly fentanyl is cut into many illicit substances.

Erin Connolly, head of pupil personnel services, said the data collected was anonymous and should be helpful to the district in knowing where to focus future efforts of student and parent engagement. “The hope was that the results provided to us by the state would help to improve our community’s understanding of our students’ strengths and risk factors,” Connolly said.

Families are integral to efforts to combat substance abuse, according to the survey, as more than 70% of secondary students reported “family attachment” as a protective factor against drug use, and more than 60% reported “family rewards for prosocial involvement” as protective.

“Parent involvement is crucial to healthy decision-making,” Herrschaft said. “We know that in our district, parents are very involved in their students’ education and well-being.”

The district’s chair of secondary health and physical education, Christina Driscoll, shared current efforts in drug and alcohol abuse prevention, including a recent sixth-grade-wide presentation about the dangers of vaping at Ward Melville High School and a “sticker shock” campaign last spring, during which high school students submitted designs for anti-vaping or anti-underaged drinking stickers. Students applied stickers with the winning designs to products at Setauket Pastaria, Setauket Beer & Beverage and the 7-Eleven on Old Town Road, in conjunction with the business owners.

While the survey has historically been done every 10 years, the presenters indicated there are plans to conduct it again in spring 2024 for better comparative data.

Residents can watch the full survey presentation on the Three Village Central School District YouTube page, under live videos. The PowerPoint presentation with the highlighted statistics is available on the district’s BoardDocs website, linked within the agenda of the Oct. 25 meeting under OASAS.

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Norma Watson and Steve Englebright shake hands as Johanna Watson, John Cunniffe and Three Village Community Trust board member Robert Reuter look on. Photo by Herb Mones

Abraham Woodhull’s ancestral property to be preserved, showcased to the community

By Mallie Jane Kim

Several blue-and-yellow historical markers dot Setauket streets, and the hamlet can truly boast “George Washington slept here.”

But none of these signs feels more out of the way than the one on the road to Strong’s Neck, in a peaceful corner of town overlooking Little Bay. And yet this sign marks the ancestral property of an important player in the Revolutionary War: Abraham Woodhull, “chief of Long Island spies under Gen. Washington,” the sign reads. In coming years, the marker won’t be the only way history buffs can enjoy this important piece of the past, which was at the heart of the historic Culper Spy Ring.

Three Village Community Trust is in the process of purchasing this property, with plans to preserve and eventually use it as a setting for community historical events. In a press release about the purchase, TVCT President Herb Mones wrote that he wants to “have children walk in the very steps of the founders of our country.”

Woodhull, code name Samuel Culper Sr., was one of the primary members of the group that tracked British troops and provided key information to Gen. George Washington and the American forces during the Revolutionary War, using espionage tradecraft like secret codes, invisible ink and dead drop secure communications. An article on the Central Intelligence Agency’s website identifies the Culper ring among “the founding fathers” of intelligence gathering by Americans.

“It’s a tremendous win for the community to be able to protect it and preserve it going forward,” Mones added. 

The trust, a community organization focused on preserving local natural resources and historical properties, owns several Three Village spots with Revolutionary War-era significance, including Patriots Rock Historical Site and the Smith/de Zafra House, home of Timothy Smith who, according to the TVCT website, mounted a broken musket over his fireplace to divert attention of suspicious British soldiers from his real cache of weapons hidden nearby.

“We’ve had a collection of properties that represented the foundations of the American experience,” Mones said. Thanks in part to “Turn,” the AMC television series about the spy ring popularizing Setauket’s history, the Woodhull property has the potential to draw even more interest in local history. “It’s important — it’s a feather in the cap,” the trust president said.

TVCT confirmed in a press release that the sales contract has been signed. The trust is in the process of submitting other required documentation to the state to finalize the purchase, which was made possible by a $825,000 grant secured in 2022 by then-New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket).

Norma Watson, who currently owns and lives on the property, will have a life tenancy, according to Mones. Watson herself has a history of advocating for natural and historical preservation, and she was involved with the trust at its inception.

According to Mones, the Woodhull property currently houses a pond and a barn — with a history of its own — that was reclaimed and converted around the 1950s into the home where Watson now resides. Woodhull’s original 1660 house burned down in 1931.

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